肽类抗生素对细胞选择性作用研究进展

抗菌肽是一种广泛存在于生物界的抵抗病原微生物入侵的重要防御分子。抗菌肽具有广谱抗细菌、真菌、肿瘤细胞等活性，具有自身随着物种适应环境而产生的结构多样性以及具有区别于传统抗生素的杀菌机理的独特性，是一类极有潜力的肽类抗生素。不同抗菌肽对不同类型靶细胞表现出活性上的巨大差异，即是抗菌肽作用的选择性，这种作用的选择性受到多种因素的影响。探讨抗菌肽作用细胞的机理，特别是选择性作用的机理将有助于设计出活性更高的新型肽类抗生素。本文主要从细胞表面结构特异性、抗菌肽自身结构特点阐述近年来抗菌肽活性与选择性作用研究的新进展。     

Database screening and in vivo efficacy of antimicrobial peptides against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus USA300

Natural antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are promising candidates for developing a generation of new antimicrobials to meet the challenge of antibiotic-resistant pathogens such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). To facilitate the search for new candidates, we have utilised the Antimicrobial Peptide Database (APD), which contains natural AMPs from bacteria, fungi, plants and animals. This study demonstrates the identification of novel templates against MRSA by screening 30 peptides selected from the APD. These peptides are short (<25 residues), cysteine-free, cationic and represent candidates from different biological sources such as bacteria, insects, arachnids, tunicates, amphibians, fish and mammals. Six peptides, including ascaphin-8, database-screened antimicrobial peptide 1 (DASamP1), DASamP2, lycotoxin I, maculatin 1.3 and piscidin 1, were found to exert potent antimicrobial activity against an MRSA USA300 isolate. Although five of the six peptides showed broad-spectrum antibacterial activity, DASamP1 displayed killing of MRSA in vitro but not of Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis or Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In addition, DASamP1 suppressed early biofilm formation in a mouse model of catheter-associated MRSA infection. DASamP1 is a novel, short and potent peptide that will be a useful starting template for further developing novel anti-MRSA peptides.     

Host defense cathelicidins in cattle: types,production, bioactive functions and potential therapeutic and diagnostic applications

Cathelicidins are a primitive class of host defense peptides and are known for their broad–spectrum antimicrobial activity against bacteria, fungi, and enveloped viruses. These small, cationic, proteolytically–activated peptides are diverse in structure, encompassing a wide range of activities on host immune and inflammatory cell responses. The dual capacity of cathelicidins to directly control infection and regulate host defenses highlights the potential use of these peptides as alternatives to antibiotics and immunomodulators. Cathelicidins are found in many mammalian species; this review focuses on bovine cathelicidins. Eight naturally and two synthetically occurring bovine cathelicidins are described in detail, with a focus on recent advances in their expression, location and biological roles. This review also presents an overview of the bioactive functions of cathelicidins in bovine mastitis, a disease causing economic losses in cattle dairy production. Comparison of the structural, antimicrobial, cytotoxic and mechanistic properties of bovine cathelicidins advances the knowledge needed for the development of these peptides as potential identifiers of infectious diseases (e.g., bovine mastitis) and as novel therapeutic alternatives to antibiotics.     

Peptides and proteins with antimicrobial activity

The increase of microbial resistance to antibiotics has led to a continuing search for newer and more effective drugs. Antimicrobial peptides are generally found in animals, plants, and microorganisms and are of great interest to medicine, pharmacology, and the food industry. These peptides are capable of inhibiting pathogenic microorganisms. They can attack parasites, while causing little or no harm to the host cells. The defensins are peptides found in granules in the polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) and are responsible for the defense of the organism. Several animal defensins, like dermaseptin, antileukoprotease, protegrin, and others, have had their activities and efficacy tested and been shown to be effective against bacteria, fungi, and protists; there are also specific defensins from invertebrates, e.g., drosomycin and heliomicin; from plants, e.g., the types A and B; and the bacteriocins, e.g., acrocin, marcescin, etc. The aim of the present work was to compile a comprehensive bibliographic review of the diverse potentially antimicrobial peptides in an effort to systematize the current knowledge on these substances as a contribution for further researches. The currently available bibliography does not give a holistic approach on this subject. The present work intends to show that the mechanism of defense represented by defensins is promising from the perspective of its application in the treatment of infectious diseases in human, animals and plants.     

Antimicrobial peptides: premises and promises

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are an important component of the natural defences of most living organisms against invading pathogens. These are relatively small (<10 kDa), cationic and amphipathic peptides of variable length, sequence and structure. During the past two decades several AMPs have been isolated from a wide variety of animals, both vertebrates and invertebrates, and plants as well as from bacteria and fungi. Most of these peptides are obtained from different sources like macrophages, neutrophils, epithelial cells, haemocytes, fat body, reproductive tract, etc. These peptides exhibit broad-spectrum activity against a wide range of microorganisms including Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, protozoa, yeast, fungi and viruses. A few peptides have also been found to be cytotoxic to sperm and tumour cells. AMPs are classified based on the three dimensional structural studies carried out with the help of NMR. The peptides are broadly classified into five major groups namely (a) peptides that form -helical structures, (b) peptides rich in cysteine residues, (c) peptides that form β-sheet, (d) peptides rich in regular amino acids namely histatin, arginine and proline and (e) peptides composed of rare and modified amino acids. Most of these peptides are believed to act by disrupting the plasma membrane leading to the lysis of the cell. AMPs have been found to be excellent candidates for developing novel antimicrobial agents and a few of these peptides show antimicrobial activity against pathogens causing sexually transmitted infection (STI), including HIV/HSV. Peptides, namely magainin and nisin have been shown to demonstrate contraceptive properties in vitro and in vivo. A few peptides have already entered clinical trials for the treatment of impetigo, diabetic foot ulcers and gastric helicobacter infections. In this review, we discuss the source, structures and mode of action with special reference to therapeutic considerations of various AMPs.     

阳离子抗菌肽研究进展

阳离子抗菌肽广泛分布于多种生物 ,越来越多的证据表明它们在机体天然免疫中有着重要的作用。广谱抗菌、抗病毒、抗肿瘤细胞及其它特性也使得其具有潜在的医药价值。对抗菌肽的研究正不断深入。该文从一般性质、作用机制、构效关系、重组表达、应用价值、存在的问题与发展方向等方面 ,对阳离子抗菌肽的最新研究进展进行综述     

The pharmacology of radiolabeled cationic antimicrobial peptides

Cationic antimicrobial peptides are good candidates for new diagnostics and antimicrobial agents. They can rapidly kill a broad range of microbes and have additional activities that have impact on the quality and effectiveness of innate responses and inflammation. Furthermore, the challenge of bacterial resistance to conventional antibiotics and the unique mode of action of antimicrobial peptides have made such peptides promising candidates for the development of a new class of antibiotics. This review focuses on antimicrobial peptides as a topic for molecular imaging, infection detection, treatment monitoring and additionally, displaying microbicidal activities. A scintigraphic approach to studying the pharmacokinetics of antimicrobial peptides in laboratory animals has been developed. The peptides were labeled with technetium-99m and, after intravenous injection into laboratory animals, scintigraphy allowed real-time, whole body imaging and quantitative biodistribution studies of delivery of the peptides to the various body compartments. Antimicrobial peptides rapidly accumulated at sites of infection but not at sites of sterile inflammation, indicating that radiolabeled cationic antimicrobial peptides could be used for the detection of infected sites. As the number of viable micro-organisms determines the rate of accumulation of these peptides, radiolabeled antimicrobial peptides enabled to determine the efficacy of antibacterial therapy in animals to be monitored as well to quantify the delivery of antimicrobial peptides to the site of infection. The scintigraphic approach provides to be a reliable method for investigating the pharmacokinetics of small cationic antimicrobial peptides in animals and offers perspective for diagnosis of infections, monitoring antimicrobial therapy, and most important, alternative antimicrobial treatment infections with multi-drug resistant micro-organisms in humans.     

Synthetic antimicrobial peptidomimetics with therapeutic potential

A series of synthetic antimicrobial peptidomimetics (SAMPs) have been prepared and found to be highly active against several Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacterial strains. These derivatives comprise the minimal structural requirements for cationic antimicrobial peptides and showed high selectivity for Gram-negative and/or Gram-positive bacteria compared to human red blood cells. We have found that SAMPs share many of the attractive properties of cationic antimicrobial peptides inasmuch that a representative SAMP was found to insert into the bilayers of large unilamellar vesicles, permeabilized both the outer and cytoplasmic membrane of Escherichia coli ML-35p, and displayed an extremely rapid bacterial killing for Staphylococcus aureus. However, while antimicrobial peptides are prone to proteolytic degradation, high in vitro stability in human blood plasma was shown for SAMPs. A combination of high antibacterial activity against methicillin-resistant staphylococci and low toxicity against human erythrocytes makes these molecules promising candidates for novel antibacterial therapeutics.     

Tailoring an antibacterial peptide of human lysosomal cathepsin G to enhance its broad-spectrum action against antibiotic-resistant bacterial pathogens

Neutrophils contain several cationic antimicrobial proteins or peptides (CAPs) that exert antibiotic-like action against bacteria. These host-derived antibiotics kill susceptible bacteria by oxygen-independent mechanisms. Considerable interest in their activity has been generated in recent years due not only to their likely important role in innate host defense against infection, but also their possible use as therapeutic agents in treating infections caused by antibiotic-resistant pathogens. We have studied the antibacterial properties of human lysosomal cathepsin G (cat G). This highly cationic serine protease contains at least three antibacterial regions that by themselves can exert antibacterial action against Gram-negative bacteria, such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Only one of these peptides, defined by residues 117-136 of full-length cat G, has bactericidal action against Gram-positive pathogens, such as Staphylococcus aureus. Due to the broad-spectrum antibacterial action of this peptide, we have sought to define the amino acids within its primary sequence required for this activity and have developed variants with improved activity. This review emphasizes the importance of both cationicity and hydrophobicity as necessary characteristics for the antibacterial action of CAPs. It also proposes the strategy that naturally occurring large human CAPs can be dissected to smaller CAPs and then modified to enhance their activity in vitro. This approach could prove beneficial to those interested in developing antimicrobial peptides as therapeutic agents.     

富含脯氨酸的抗菌肽研究进展

富含脯氨酸的抗菌肽是一族分离自动物的线性多肽 ,它们都具有抗菌活性 ,在天然免疫中具有重要的作用。这类抗菌肽按来源又分为两类 :来自哺乳动物的富含脯氨酸的抗菌肽和来自昆虫和其他脊椎动物的富含脯氨酸的抗菌肽。它们都富含脯氨酸 ,对革兰阴性菌起作用 ,其杀菌机制不同于大多抗菌肽的膜溶解作用。它们进入细菌胞质后 ,结合DnaK蛋白 ,抑制DnaK的生物功能 ,最终导致了细菌的死亡。这一作用机制对于药物的开发很有意义。除了抗菌作用外 ,富含脯氨酸的抗菌肽还具有其他重要的药理作用。对这方面作用研究比较多的是PR 39,它在诱导粘连蛋白聚糖在间充质细胞的表达 ,抑制嗜中性粒细胞NADPH氧化酶 ,抑制 1κBα和HIF 1α的降解等方面具有重要作用。这些发现表明PR 39在伤口修复、炎症、缺血再灌注损伤以及诱导血管生成等方面具有很好的应用前景。     

Survey of small antifungal peptides with chemotherapeutic potential

Many cationic peptides with antimicrobial properties have been isolated from bacteria, fungi, plants, and animals. These peptides vary in molecular size, potency and spectra of activities. This report surveyed the literature to highlight the peptides that have antifungal activity and greatest potential for development as new therapeutic agents. Thus, to be included in the evaluation, each peptide had to fulfil the following criteria: (i) potent antifungal activity, (ii) no, or minimal, mammalian cell toxicity, (iii) of ≤25 amino acids in length, which minimises the costs of synthesis, reduces immunogenicity and enhances bioavailability and stability in vivo, (iv) minimal post-translational modifications (also reduces the production costs). The ~80 peptides that satisfied these criteria are discussed with respect to their structures, mechanisms of antimicrobial action and in vitro and in vivo toxicities. Certainly, some of these small peptides warrant further study and have potential for future exploitation as new antifungal agents.     

Bacterial cell wall compounds as promising targets of antimicrobial agents II. Immunological and clinical aspects

The bacterial cell wall represents the primary target for antimicrobial agents. Microbial destruction is accompanied by the release of potent immunostimulatory membrane constituents. Both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria release a variety of lipoproteins and peptidoglycan fragments. Gram-positive bacteria additionally provide lipoteichoic acids, whereas Gram-negative bacteria also release lipopolysaccharide (LPS, endotoxin), essential component of the outer leaflet of the bacterial cell wall and one of the most potent immunostimulatory molecules known. Immune activation therefore can be considered as an adverse effect of antimicrobial destruction and killing during anti-infective treatment. In contrast to antibiotics, the use of cationic amphiphilic antimicrobial peptides allows both effective bacterial killing and inhibition of the immunostimulatory effect of the released bacterial membrane constituents. The administration of antimicrobial peptides alone or in combination with antibiotic agents thus represents a novel strategy in the antiinfective treatment with potentially important beneficial aspects. Here, data are presented which describe immunological and clinical aspects of the use of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) as therapeutic agents to treat bacterial infection and neutralize the immunostimulatory activity of released cell wall constituents.     

多肽抗生素在免疫系统中的作用

多种动物的免疫系统中都含有多肽抗生素。这些多肽抗生素具有广泛的抗菌谱。它们不仅能杀灭革兰阴性及阳性细菌 ,还能杀伤耐药的细菌、真菌、病毒和寄生虫。这些多肽抗生素可以与体内的其他分子协同作用 ,杀灭病原体。它们与细菌的产物有高度的亲和性 ,因此可以在败血症所引起的炎症反应中起调节作用。多肽抗生素还具有调动炎性细胞的能力。所有这些性质再加上其他的一些功能使得多肽抗生素在自然免疫中起着重要的作用     

The multifaceted activities of mammalian defensins

Defensins are an important family of cationic and cysteine-rich host defense peptides that are widely distributed in plants, fungi, and animals. In mammals, defensins exert potent antimicrobial and immunomodulatory activities linking the innate and adaptive immune responses. These peptides play critical roles in health and disease as defects in their production are associated with abnormal host responses to infection, chronic inflammatory diseases, and cancer. There is much interest in elucidating the structure-function relation and modes of action of the defensins to better understand how these peptides kill microbes and regulate the host immune responses. Such knowledge is expected to help in the design of novel defensin-based therapeutics. This review focuses on the multifaceted antimicrobial and immunomodulatory activities of human and murine defensins.     

Cathelicidin peptides as candidates for a novel class of antimicrobials

Cathelicidin peptides are a numerous group of mammalian cationic antimicrobial peptides. Despite a common evolutionary origin of their genes, peptides display a remarkable variety of sizes, sequences and structures. Their spectra of antimicrobial activity are varied and cover a range of organisms that includes bacteria, fungi and enveloped viruses. In addition, they bind to and neutralize the effects of endotoxin. These features make this family of peptides good candidates in view of a therapeutic use. The most promising ones are currently under evaluation as leads for the development of novel anti-infectives, and synthetic variants are in an advanced stage of development for specific clinical applications. This review focuses on recent studies on the structure and in vitro and in vivo biological activities of these peptides.     

Design and synthesis of cationic antimicrobial peptides with improved activity and selectivity against Vibrio spp

Extensive use of classical antibiotics has led to the growing emergence of many resistant strains of pathogenic bacteria. Evidence has suggested that cationic antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are of greatest potential to represent a new class of antibiotics. The largest group of AMPs comprises peptides that fold into an amphipathic alpha-helical conformation when interacting with the target microorganism. In the current study, a series of cationic AMPs of 20 amino acids was designed and synthesised based on four structural parameters, including charge, polar angle, hydrophobicity and hydrophobic moment. The effect of these parameters on antimicrobial activity and selectivity was assessed by structural and biological analyses. Our results indicated that high hydrophobicity and amphipathicity (hydrophobic moment) were correlated with increased haemolytic activity, whilst antimicrobial activity was found to be less dependent on these factors. Three of the synthetic AMPs (GW-Q4, GW-Q6 and GW-H1) showed higher antimicrobial activity and selectivity against a broad spectrum of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria compared with the naturally occurring AMPs magainin 2a and pleurocidin. This study also demonstrates that these rationally designed cationic and amphipathic helical AMPs exhibited high selectivity against several Vibrio spp. and are potential agents for future use in the treatment of these marine pathogens.     

Innovative cationic fullerenes as broad-spectrum light-activated antimicrobials

Photodynamic inactivation is a rapidly developing antimicrobial technology that combines a nontoxic photoactivatable dye or photosensitizer in combination with harmless visible light of the correct wavelength to excite the dye to its reactive-triplet state that will then generate reactive oxygen species that are highly toxic to cells. Buckminsterfullerenes are closed-cage molecules entirely composed of sp2-hybridized carbon atoms, and although their main absorption is in the UV, they also absorb visible light and have a long-lived triplet state. When C₆₀ fullerene is derivatized with cationic functional groups it forms molecules that are more water-soluble and can mediate photodynamic therapy efficiently upon illumination; moreover, cationic fullerenes can selectively bind to microbial cells. In this report we describe the synthesis and characterization of several new cationic fullerenes. Their relative effectiveness as broad-spectrum antimicrobial photosensitizers against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, and a fungal yeast was determined by quantitative structure-function relationships.From the Clinical EditorPhotodynamic inactivation (PDI) is a rapidly developing antimicrobial technology in which a non-toxic photoactivatable dye or photosensitizer is excited with harmless visible light to its reactive state, where it will generate highly toxic reactive oxygen species. Buckminsterfullerenes derivatized with cationic functional groups form molecules that are water-soluble and mediate PDI efficiently. These fullerenes can also selectively bind to microbial cells. Several new cationic fullerenes are presented in this paper, and their efficacy against Gram-positive, Gram-negative bacteria, and a fungal yeast is also demonstrated.     

Ceragenins (cationic steroid compounds), a novel class of antimicrobial agents

Ceragenins are a group of cholic acid derivatives that have been chemically modified to make them cationic amphiphiles. Several of these derivatives exhibit antimicrobial activity against a broad range of bacteria. These compounds have advantages over cationic amphipathic peptides in that they are resistant to proteolysis and they incorporate stably into membranes. Although some forms of ceragenins are effective against both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, they are generally more potent against Gram-positive bacteria. Surprisingly, it is not the cell wall, but the high content of phosphatidylethanolamine in most Gram-negative bacteria that endow them with resistance. Ceragenins have the unusual property of forming complexes with phospholipids. Factors contributing to the mechanism of action of these agents are discussed. The ceragenins are a class of agents with many properties to make them favorable for application as antiinfective agents.     

Bacteria-selective synergism between the antimicrobial peptides magainin 2 and tachyplesin I: toward cocktail therapy

Magainin 2 and tachyplesin I (T-SS) are membrane-permeabilizing antimicrobial peptides discovered in frog skin and horseshoe crab hemolymph, respectively. They are classified into different secondary structural classes, i.e., alpha-helix and cyclic beta-sheet, respectively. We found that F5W-magainin 2 (MG2) and T-SS showed marked synergistic effects against gram-negative and-positive bacteria without enhancing hemolytic activity as a measure of toxicity. The results of dye-release experiments using liposomes suggested that the selective synergism is mainly due to anionic phospholipid-specific synergism in membrane permeabilization. Furthermore, the cyclic structure of T-SS was found to be necessary for synergism because a linear analogue of T-SS did not show good synergism with MG2. These novel observations suggest the possibility of development of cocktail therapeutic regimens using combinations of antimicrobial peptides.     

Isolation and characterisation of antimicrobial peptides from deer neutrophils

The New Zealand deer industry is the largest and most advanced in the world. Antimicrobial peptides have been isolated from a wide range of organisms, but as yet there have been no reports on any from deer. This work investigates the antimicrobial activity and characterisation of peptides isolated from Cervus elaphus blood. It was found that deer blood contains proline/arginine-rich cathelicidins, similar to Bac5 peptides isolated from cattle, sheep and goats. A beta-defensin was also isolated that had a conserved amino acid sequence and mass similar to bovine neutrophil beta-defensins. The cathelicidin displayed strong activity against Gram-negative bacteria, but lesser activity against Gram-positive bacteria and yeast, whilst the beta-defensin showed good activity against all three test organisms.